


The Myth (Lead Me Astray)

by OnlyOneWoman



Series: A Simple Man [1]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Black Sails before shit went down, Canon-Typical Violence, Defiance, Drinking, Emotionally Repressed, Foreplay, Knives, Loneliness, M/M, Nassau canon time, No real canon stuff, Pining, Quite a lot of teasing, Seduction, Sexually repressed Billy Bones, Taverns, i guess?, it's just for fun, part one of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-07 22:55:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21225596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyOneWoman/pseuds/OnlyOneWoman
Summary: I blame E_A_Phoenix for this. I've not felt inspiration for BS writing or even reading in what feels like ages and then I stumbled across his/her absolutely amazing "The Pirates' King" story and well, fuck me, I got dragged back in, black flag raised, sea legs back on and holy moly...So, here's to you,  E_A_Phoenix, and I plan on making a part 2, of course. All my love!





	The Myth (Lead Me Astray)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rising_Phoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rising_Phoenix/gifts).

”An’ I dare say, ’e dinnae spare a living creature! Not even the bloody cat!”  
“He’s a mad man, that’s known.”  
“Amen! Ya see the red flag, ya betta’ set sails like the devil’s on yer tail.”  
“I swear, brother, even the devil hisself wouldna get in tha way o’ Captain Low.”  
“Yeah, and he’s shooting lightings with his eyes too, right?”  
  
Silver’s snarky remark had Billy smile into his cup. The inn wasn’t too crowded at this hour and the Walrus’ crew was already on their third day ashore, spending the prize on drinks and pussy. The men trying to spread their ghost story around looked up, affronted, and the shorter of them slammed his cup in the table.  
  
“Bones and Silver, sailing with the infamous Captain Flint, right?”  
  
Billy and Silver just nodded. There was no lie in it, after all. The short man emptied his drink.  
  
“The devil o’ the sea, aye. But Flint would crawl into the pit o’the devil an’ shake alongside ‘im should’e ever meet the Low demon, tha’ I swear upon my own mother’s grave, Bones.”  
  
Billy rolled his eyes.  
  
“Does he drink, eat, shit and fuck? Is he still blind on that right eye, huh?”  
  
The man muttered something unhearable and Silver laughed.  
  
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Jesus, Low is just a man, mad or not, and I bet he’ll shake in his knees from too much rum and bleed from a well-placed dagger as much as any man. If you’re trying to make a living out of storytelling, you really ought to work on your monsters, Hank.”  
  
There was a round of laughters among the men and even Hank joined in, not too proud to admit that Silver had a point. Billy, how ever, sipped from his drink and looked at Hank.  
  
“What do you _know_ about him, though? Ned Low. Have you ever met him in person?”  
  
Hank shrugged.  
  
“I only know wha’ reliable men have tol’ me themselves. An’ he’s one o’ the most feared pirates in England.”  
  
Now the laughters were pretty much drowning the inn and Billy shot a smug smile at the storyteller.  
  
“I think that honor goes to any captain worthy of the name, Hank. Flint, Vane, Blackbeard… _and _Low.”  
“Aye! To our captains, lads!”  
“To our captains!”  
  
The men, being the simple creatures they were, turned to their drinks and another discussion Billy cared little about, when Silver looked at him.  
  
“You ever met Low, Billy?”  
“I haven’t. And I’m pretty sure that goes for you as well.”  
“You think Flint ever met him?”  
“Who knows whom he’s crossed paths with over the years.”  
  
Billy thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.  
  
“Can’t recall any encounters with Low though, and I’ve been with the crew since I was fifteen. But by the way you describe him it seems like a figure hard to forget. He got knives as teeth or what?”  
“And a ten inch cock with barbs, tearing girls and boys apart…”  
  
Silver, of course, with that dry, sarcastic tongue most men couldn’t read and the small crowd at the inn made disgusted noises while laughing, some even looking a bit green and the inn keeper knocked his counter.  
  
“Alright, gentlemen, lets not make the ladies sick!”  
“As if there are _ladies_ in here…”  
  
Muldoon’s comment drew more laughters and soon the subject of conversation turned to the wenches, the drinks and the rolling coins these men had risked their lives for and so gladly spent on leisure lasting only for a night. Silver was asked to tell more of his stories and the curlyhaird man sure wasn’t hard to persuade to do what he did best.  
  
Billy nursed his drink, listening to Silver for a while as it was amusing, only interrupted a few times by a wench looking for company, whom he kindly rejected. Muldoon had already taken to one of the mollies and grinned widely at the quartermaster as he disappeared with the boy up the stairs. Billy just rolled his eyes but really, it was good that Muldoon got a boy from time to time. Mollies always ran a little short compared to girls, especially in Nassau.  
  
The first mate suddenly felt tired. It wasn’t unusual after several weeks at sea with not all good winds or successful prizes, but tonight not even his height and broad frame seemed to make the weariness easier and Billy felt his head spinning, the dusky colors at the inn swirl around and he left the table and headed outside in four giant steps, loosing the contents of his stomach in the alley.  
  
“Ye alright there, friend?”  
  
Billy spat on the ground, swiped a hand over his mouth and looked up in the darkness towards the voice.  
  
“I’m fine, thank you.”  
  
It came out a bit more sarcastically than intended, but the unfamiliar voice just chuckled and Billy squinted, prepared to meet anything from a fierce, stupid little kid to an human giant – or a low voiced wench – but the roughly nine inches shorter frame the voice apparantly belonged to, was leaning back onto the tavern wall, idly playing with a dagger.  
  
Billy looked suspiciously at him.  
  
“Do I know you… friend?”  
“No.”  
  
There was another chuckle, not demeaning but more amused. About what, Billy didn’t know. Drunk men loosing the contents of their bellies in alleys weren’t the most unusual sight in Nassau and Billy took a step further to the voice and looked closer.  
  
“Who are you?”  
“Elijah Marble.”  
“Never heard of you.”  
“Now ye have.”  
  
The stranger stopped leaning and took a step out in the alley that was lit from the moon and a few lanterns nearby. Billy found himself a few feet away from a man with a nasty scar over a blind, smudgy blue eye, surrounded by unevenly cut, shoulder long hair. Billy involuntarily frowned.  
  
“You’re one of Vane’s men?”  
“Charles Vane? Nah. I’m… my own man, so to speak. Don’ belong to nobody.”  
  
There wasn’t much to respond to that and Billy nodded.  
  
“You’re a stranger in Nassau, Mr. Marble.”  
“Tha’ a question or a statement, friend? An’ by the way, ye haven’t told me yers.”  
“Bones. Billy Bones.”  
“Well… Nice to meet ye, Mr. Bones. Tell me, wha’s there to do in Nassau for a man who’ve been too long at sea?”  
  
Billy wasn’t sure where this talkative man was going at and he made a gesture at the inn.  
  
“You’re standing outside of it.”  
  
Mr. Marble huffed and approached Billy with the bottle planted on his lips, swallowing gulps of rum.  
  
“So… Whores. Drinks. Gambles. A nice little knife fight… some pretty scars…”  
  
He grinned now, turning slightly more into the light and the unseeing eye and the scar came into full view.  
  
Billy swallowed, not sure why the man made him nervous.  
  
“The girls have seen worse, believe me.”  
“Flatterer.”  
  
Mr. Marble kept smiling, now reminding Billy of an alley cat, lithe and strong, claws sharp if tucked in. Not someone to take for a fool, the injury proof of resilience rather than weakness. In other words, a man you didn’t want to get in a fight with, especially not while drunk. The one seeing eye was peering over him and as odd and strange as it was, it made him blush.  
  
“Been at sea for a while, Mr. Bones?”  
“Yes.”  
“Then why aren’t ye carrying a lass or two upstairs instead o’ talking to a stranger in an alley like ye have something to hide?”  
  
Billy had to smile at that, crossing his arms now as his insides started to calm down for real.  
  
“As I said earlier, _you’re _the stranger here, Mr. Marble. And I’m satisfied with what the inn has to offer.”  
“Ah. I see…”  
  
There were three men Billy had ever thought would figure out what he meant by _offer_ and those were Flint, definitely Silver and possibly Muldoon. He didn’t know this Mr. Marble or whatever his name was. In Nassau names weren’t always so clear or remaining, but this stranger clearly knew a lot more about the unspoken than the average pirate and the lack of any wench even near Billy said some of it’s own.  
  
Mr. Marble swallowed some more from his bottle, handing it over to Billy who took it. The man drank from it himself and drunk or not, he needed something to get rid of the taste of vomits. He took a sip, it was stronger than he’d expected and the smaller man chuckled at the grimaze Billy couldn’t help but make.  
  
“Some fine cargo from Tortuga, mate.”  
“You’re heading from there?”  
“Aye. There, and other places. Nassau doesn’t quite live up to it’s reputation, though.”  
“Is that so?”  
“A wee short on certain supplies, I must say. Had expected this fine establishment a bit more… adventurous. After all, ye’ve not claimed the mollies as spoils, aye?”  
“Mollies? We…”  
  
Billy almost dropped his jaw for a moment, which was completely ridiculous, since molly houses were in no way unknown or unfrequented by all his brothers. He swallowed, hoping the stranger didn’t notice his insecurity on the issue.  
  
“Not many molly boys in Nassau, sorry. But the girls are… quite inventive, I suppose.”  
“Ah. Ye _suppose_, Mr. Bones? Of course…”  
  
This man who seemed of Irish descent, was intriguing to say the least, and Billy pretended not to care about the innuendo. The girls he frequented here were both few and afar, the most discrete ones who knew how to keep their small hands to themselves and make their sounds hoarse while sucking him off. And the occasional molly… well, he rarely stayed long enough to make himself a name and not that Billy was snooping around or anything, but he didn’t doubt there’d be one or two among the crew to accept a mutually beneficial offer from Muldoon when they’d been long enough at sea.  
  
After all, the laws of England didn’t apply here. Billy took another look at the short man with almost feral eyes and that strange, joyless grin.  
  
“You have anything else you wanted to say, Mr. Marble?”  
“Maybe.”  
  
The man now walked closer, the catlike confidence a stark contrast to his short, anything but burly frame. Billy had fought enough men to know how easy it was to fall victim for an appearance of weakness and he loosened his dagger, only to have the man walk into it, throat displayed in a way you just didn’t do unless you had a death wish and the smallest line of blood sprung up over the skin as Mr. Marble leaned against the edge.  
  
“I’m pretty… _inventive_ myself, Mr. Bones… An’ once ye’ve seen one brothel, ye’ve seen’em all…”  
  
He licked his lips, not lewdly, just hungrily and Billy looked down – quite literally – at the deformed face that seemed a lot less feral this close. Or maybe it was due to the height, or lack there of. He wasn’t pretty, not like you could call Silver or even Vane, and neither was he well-built or had the pondus of Flint.  
  
He was new to Nassau, new to Billy and no, Billy wasn’t Silver who could charm his way in or out with most people, nor was he Muldoon who didn’t give a fuck and took what was offered with a confident smile.  
  
Billy looked up and down the stranger a few times, not moving his dagger and he could feel the slight tremble of it when the Adam’s apple moved.  
  
“You’re either a very brave or a very stupid man, Mr. Marbles.”  
“I prefer reckless, Mr. Bones. Brave an’ stupid are often jus’ two sides o’ the same coin. I’m a survivor, don’ concern myself with bravery… or stupidity.”  
“No? Then what do you call approaching a stranger in the darkness?”  
  
Billy couldn’t help but being amused by this quite intriguing little man who all but leaned into the edge of his dagger. The stranger cocked his head a little, mouth slightly opened and then he smiled, not the feral one, but something akin to real happiness and Billy swallowed.  
  
“What do you want, Mr. Marbles, or whatever your name is?”  
“I’m a simple man, Mr. Bones, with simple preferences.”  
“And yet you’re not satisfied with what the inn has to offer.”  
“Neither are ye, it seems.”  
  
The stranger now practially gazed all over him, up and down, like he was inspecting a prize from a successful hunt. It wasn’t particularly worrying, even if the man had daggers hidden somewhere, Billy was confident he could take him down in a fight, but the one seeing eye expressed something strange.  
  
It wasn’t desire, not really. More of a _hunger_, Billy mused. A desperate, usually probably well-hidden hunger, the kind you didn’t show the world, not even that of Nassau. It should’ve made the little man repulsive, too feral, but strangely, it made him appealing. An openness Billy had to admit he wasn’t used to.  
  
They kept looking at each other, inspecting, judging the other man in this weird, unnerving silece, drawing what conclusions they could without adding more words to it and Billy felt his weary body remind him of what he long ago had made the decision not to act upon. Not for any moral reasons, fuck that, but for practical ones. There wasn’t anyone in the crew he felt enough attraction towards to risk anything and besides, there was always heartbreak whenever someone lost their matelot after a raid.  
  
Too deep feelings for human beings, men and women alike, Billy thought to be too much of a liability when the pain of loosing a brother and friend was already a more or less constant reality. And molly boys… well, they were pretty enough but, as the girls, not really what Billy himself fancied. The man before him wasn’t pretty, no, but he was indeed very intriguing and the cockiness of him, the fact that he walked up this close to a man several inches taller and much burlier, wasn’t something that Billy was used to since he’d started reaching beyond six feet and that was a very long time ago, indeed.  
  
He smiled at the lunatic before him, letting himself look at the lean chest the half-opened shirt revealed and the grin that had softened down to a real smile, lips still a little parted, lust-filled and soft in the midst of a short beard.  
  
Fragile all of a sudden, the feral traits held back but ready to be unleashed whenever needed. A man used to taking what he wanted, but never ever without a fight. He pushed buttons Billy knew were there only so rarely got someone to touch and he was sick of it, the tension his desires always carried along and he’d never been able to let go of. The man wasn’t just intriguing, he was downright desireble and whether that was due to the rum or the long weeks at sea or just the overall lack of physical contact, Billy couldn’t tell.  
  
He took a step forward, close enough for the man to set his teeth into his chest should he want to, but the stranger just looked up, lips almost obscenly curved and he closed his eyes, smiling.  
  
“Nights get lonesome at sea… and ashore, Mr. Bones, for men like us…”  
“Men like us?”  
  
The one seeing eye looked up again, a glimpse of something even more primal, more human than mere desire.  
  
“Men who mustn’t need. Who mustn’t be_ weak_.”  
  
He sighed then and it was unexpected, strangely tired and Billy almost lost his breath as the man leaned into his chest, forehead heavy against his heart.  
  
“We’re all myths, Mr. Bones… Captain Vane, captain Flint… Captain Low, their men an’ the monster we’re pictured as.”  
  
Hands slowly, almost hesistant, placed themselves onto his hips and it had to be the rum, the long journey, the whatever the fuck making Billy even leave the tavern this early, because he didn’t push the stranger away.  
  
“I’m tired, Mr. Bones. Aren’t ye?”  
  
The stranger didn’t speak of sleep, of the deprivation of it, or the hard work under boiling sun that left you worn out. It wasn’t precised, but it wasn’t necessary. Billy understood quite well of what weariness he spoke of.  
  
Always watching your back, having others depending on you all the time, never really resting. Being a man and yet still living and acting like you were… what? Unmoved. The so unexpected weight of the man on his chest wasn’t unwelcomed, just surprising and Billy wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing when moving his arms around it.  
  
He was no fool, he knew more than well what the feral creature was after and he wasn’t opposed to it, far from, but he’d never… Not with a man that felt like, well, a _man_ and not some fancy boy. Mr. Marbles smelled harsh, unapologetic, like the sea and the canvas of old sails and his hips were now brushing against Billy’s, making things clear as day in the darkness. Billy grabbed the man’s hair and a small hiss, seemingly laced with pleasure, left the lips.  
  
Billy stared right into the pale eyes, both the seeing and the blind one.  
  
“I’m a simple man myself, Mr. Marble. I’m not one for being dominated.”  
“Fair enough. Wouldn’t presume to, either way.”  
“And you’re keeping those daggers and that gun away.”  
  
A bleak smile now, a drop of insecurity at last.  
  
“I’m all for a good challenge, Mr. Bones, but I enjoy being alive more.”  
  
He lifted his arms, placing them, bafflingly, behind his head, as if he’d been captured and admitted defeat.  
  
Billy swallowed.  
  
“I don’t play games either, Mr. Marble.”  
“Me neither. Night’s not young much longer though… Am I wasting my time here, Mr. Bones?”  
  
Fuck it. It was too much. The suddenness, the loneliness, the way this small man kept getting closer and Billy suddenly slid his hands down, grabbing the man hard around the hips and at the same time, there were lips searching for his.  
  
For all the things Billy Bones had done that most men never did – and probably was happy not to be doing – he’d never thought kissing another man would’ve been among those things. A hand or even mouth around his cock, sure, more than one pirate engage in that with a brother, but Billy never had and this was… something quite different.  
  
This lithe, suprisingly soft man was pressing closer, grinding towards him really and the brush of his hard cock was far more tantalizing than Billy’d imagined. His own interest was prominent enough and he felt a breathy little sound onto his lips, a chuckle then and the man rubbed harder onto his frame.  
  
The movement made Billy’s spine tense up, not in a bad way, but like he needed to arch it to spread the intense feeling out a little. The bulge pressing against him, rubbing like a cat in heat, along with the kisses, were making his own body wake up, not shocked but somewhat dazed, as if not really knowing what was going on.  
  
Was_ this_ something he wanted? _Had_ wanted? If so, for how long? It wasn’t anything like the mollies or Max’s girls. Nothing performative, just another body needing something it hardly never got and the fear of loosing control of this hit the quartermaster and he grabbed the man’s neck, separating them a little, just feeling the rum laced breath now sped up against his face.  
  
“Aint doing this out here… Mr. Marble. Or the inn.”  
“Ye have some other suggestion, Mr. Bones?”  
  
Billy nodded at west.  
  
“There’s an abandoned house not far from here. It’s small and the owners died of dysentery a couple of months ago. Been empty ever since…”  
  
The man chuckled.  
  
“An’ how do I know ye’re not leading me into a trap?”  
“You don’t. Just as I don’t know if you’re having someone following us.”  
“Ah. Sounds reasonable enough. How far?”  
“Few streets.”  
  
The stranger licked his lips, not caring to adjust his shirt or trousers and there was that wicked smile again.  
  
“Lead me astray then, Mr. Bones.”


End file.
